Indian paramilitary force accepts first transgender cadets

Six transgender Indian women, or hijras as they are traditionally known in Hindi, have become the first of their kind to be accepted as cadets in India’s Home Guards – a paramilitary force that assists the police.

The six were accepted into the Home Guards in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu state on the southern tip of India as part of a pilot program to better integrate LGBTI people into the Indian mainstream.

The six transgender women are training with a male unit of cadets and are required to wear the same uniforms as the male cadets but have been provided with their own separate changing room and they may dress as they please when not on training exercises.

Transgender women are heavily marginalized in modern India despite being recognized as part of the culture for thousands of years, and in modern times they have been largely forced into the sex industry or crime in order to survive.